


Go the F**k to Sleep

by ShowMeAHero



Series: Swing Life Away [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Brief Vague Description Of Violence, Canon Disabled Character, Deaf Character, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Night Terrors, Original Disabled Character, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Prompt Fill, and babysits for steve and bucky while they're on a mission, and it feels so good, and madness ensues, because he's incognito now yo, in which nick fury actually secretly loves kids, mostly fluff actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-03 06:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1734392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Bucky have to go on a mission, and nobody is left to watch their daughter. Cue Nick Fury, who is still underground after the whole, you know, dying thing, and his surprisingly good babysitting skills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Go the F**k to Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this post](http://buckybaarnes.co.vu/post/87261318969/when-steve-and-bucky-finally-are-stable-enough-to) by [buckybaarnes](http://buckybaarnes.co.vu/).

“So, you’re sure you have everything?” Bucky asked for the eighteenth time since Nick had arrived. Steve pulled his jacket on, tugging the sleeves into place as he watched Bucky scan the list of phone numbers on the fridge. “She’s got her food pouches in the third cabinet if she’s hungry in between meals, milk’s in the fridge, we’ve got the-”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Nick interrupted firmly. Steve handed Bucky his jacket just as someone knocked on the front door of their apartment, and Steve sighed, leaving Bucky and Nick in the kitchen while he answered the door.

“She might wake up in the middle of the night, she has night terrors and usually wants Steve, but if you just talk to her, she’ll eventually calm down,” Bucky informed Nick. Nick rolled his eye.

“You’ve told me all this,” Nick reminded him. He adjusted his grip on two-year-old Sarah, who grabbed at the collar of his shirt and grinned at Bucky.

“Steve feels real bad about this,” Bucky told Nick quietly. Nick raised an eyebrow at him. “We didn’t have anybody else to watch her, and Sam needs us to help out on this.”

“I understand,” Nick assured him. He would never tell anyone - not even Natasha, _certainly_ not Steve fucking Rogers - that he loves kids, but he does. He _really_ does actually like children; he has to, to deal with the people he deals with on a daily basis. Mainly Tony Stark, but the point stands. Nick Fury _does_ like children, and one of his favorites was Sarah Fay Natalia Barnes-Rogers (name’s a fucking mouthful, but it works), and he’ll watch her whenever he has to.

“Hey!” Sam cheered, entering the kitchen with Natasha, Clint, Kate Bishop, and Steve right behind him. “There’s my baby girl!”

Sarah shrieked and held out her hands to him. Sam took her from Nick and spun her around before settling her on his shoulders. Clint leaned up and turned her head to the side.

“How’re her hearing aids holding up?” Clint asked. Steve nodded, his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“Real well,” Steve answered. “She’s adjusting pretty quickly, too. We’re very proud of her, aren’t we?” Steve reached up and tickled her side, then pulled her down from Sam’s shoulders, holding her tightly for a moment before passing her to Bucky.

“The mission’s pretty routine,” Natasha said to the room at large, leaning against the kitchen counter. “It shouldn’t go south.”

“Shouldn’t?” Kate asked, sitting down on the kitchen table. Jamie sprinted in, apparently summoned just by Kate’s mere presence in the apartment, and Kate leaned down and lifted her up to pet. She scratched behind one of the dog’s ears, and the Boston Terrier/Cocker Spaniel mutt buried its face in Kate’s lap. The dog's cybernetic limb was silent when she moved. “I don’t know, based on the file Clint showed me…”

“It’s going to be fine,” Steve said firmly, obviously ending the discussion for the time being. He pressed a kiss to Sarah’s forehead and stepped back. Bucky did the same, hugged her and kissed her forehead before passing her to Nick. “We’ll be back as soon as we can be. If we’re not back by two tomorrow afternoon, Dr. Banner will come by to relieve you.”

“We’ll be back,” Bucky asserted. He ran his metal fingers through Sarah’s dark hair before pulling back. He pulled his jacket on. “I promise. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I love you,” Steve said, and Nick did not smile.

“I love you, too,” Nick said, _still_ not smiling, and Sam snorted.

“Alright, let’s get a move on,” Natasha announced, clapping her hands together. Jamie raised her head from Kate’s lap. Kate set Jamie back on the ground, and the dog sprinted off, back into the depths of the apartment. “Zemo’s not going to kill himself.”

After a couple last-second goodbyes, the six of them finally headed out the door, leaving Nick with Sarah, who was rubbing tiredly at her eyes, and Jamie, who had decided to follow at his heels everywhere he walked. He put Sarah to bed, fed Jamie her dinner, and sat down on the sofa to sleep. Or wait. Or whatever had to be done. He flicked on the TV and fell asleep to _Orange Is the New Black_ on Netflix.

He woke up at - he glanced at the clock under the television blearily - 1:34 AM to the sound of Sarah screaming from her bedroom. He hauled himself up off the sofa and made his way into her room, flicking on the light as he went. She was thrashing in her bed, so Nick pulled her blankets away and lifted her up.

“Hey there, kid,” Nick said, and Sarah continued screaming. Nick was not surprised, however, and carried her to the kitchen, where he rifled through the duffel bag he brought until he pulled out the book. He took her back to her bedroom, sat down on her bed, and flipped the book open with one hand as he held Sarah with the other. He looked down into her face; her pupils were dilated, her hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and her pulse was fluttering in her neck. He placed his hand carefully against the side of her face and held her close to his chest, cradling her head in his palm.

“It’s okay, Sarah,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady and reassuring like he knew she needed, but she kept screaming, crying into his shirt.

“Daddy!” she wailed, and Nick bounced his leg, refusing to admit - even to himself - that he might be out of his league here.

“Daddy’s going to be back tomorrow,” Nick promised her, holding the book up to read from, flipping open to a random page. “Here, I got you a book - it’s a bedtime story, okay, kid? Here - ‘The cats nestle close to their kittens, the lambs have laid down with the sheep.” Sarah stopped screaming as he spoke, though she kept crying.

“You are cozy and warm in your bed, my dear. Please go the fuck to sleep,” he continued, and Sarah sniffled into his chest, burying her face there in his shirt. Nick read further, starting over without a break in his voice when he reached the end, and continued reading until she fell back asleep. The whole process only took about fifteen minutes total, but he was exhausted by the time she was asleep, which only served to remind him of why he had never had his own children, despite the fact that he really did like them. Most of the time.

He tucked her back into her bed as gently and lightly as he could, pulling her quilt up around her chin. He picked up the book, flicked off the light, and went back into the kitchen. After putting his book back in his duffel bag, he poured himself a full glass of milk and returned to the sofa. He fell asleep ten minutes into the same episode of _Orange Is the New Black_.

Nick woke up at six the next morning, a habit born of years of practice. He stood from the sofa and stretched. He made his way into the kitchen and started making two fruit smoothies - one for himself, one for Sarah - and pancakes - just for Sarah. She woke up around seven, and Nick brought her into the kitchen and sat her down in her high chair. She ate her breakfast, and the two of them played games with Jamie on the living room floor until 11:22, when the front door was thrown open.

“Mission was a success!” Kate called into the apartment. Nick picked up Sarah, but was stopped by Natasha, who appeared suddenly in the living room doorway.

“She’s gotta stay in here,” Natasha instructed. She held out her arms, and Nick handed Sarah over to her. “He’s healing pretty quickly, since he’s, you know, Superman, but he’s still kind of a mess.”

“What happened?” Nick asked, and Natasha shrugged.

“What do you think? Bucky got too close,” Natasha informed him. Nick nodded and moved past Natasha, who was sitting down on the sofa with Sarah. He made his way into the front hallway just as Clint and Sam burst through, half-dragging, half-carrying Steve between the two of them. Bucky was right behind them, their bag slung over his shoulder. He threw it down when they brought Steve in.

“Start stitching, Hawkeye,” Bucky instructed. “I don’t care if it’s going to heal in the next few minutes, the next few hours, or the next few days. Stitch it.”

“Aye, aye, Sergeant,” Kate muttered, taking the thread and needle Clint passed her. Steve laughed. Clint started his own stitches, neither of them quite sure which Hawkeye Bucky had been addressing, but mostly unwilling to ask at this juncture. Sam started ripping Steve’s uniform apart to get to the wounds underneath, and Bucky left, making his way into the living room. When Sarah saw him, she held her hands up to him and nearly launched herself onto the floor.

“Papa!” she shouted, and Bucky swept her up and held her tightly, burying his face in her hair.

“I’m right here, baby girl,” Bucky promised, and Sarah wound her arms around his neck, holding on like a koala.

“Daddy?” Sarah asked, and Natasha stood, light on her feet, and darted out of the room. She appeared again in the doorway moments later and shook her head, and Bucky pulled back from Sarah a bit to look down into her face.

“Not right now,” Bucky told her, and her face fell immediately. “How about we read a book, hmm?”

“Okay!” Sarah agreed easily, and Nick, in the corner of the room, smiled, before he went to help clean Steve up.

Bucky brought Sarah into the kitchen to see Steve forty-five minutes later, when he was stitched and clean and wearing his pajamas. Bucky handed Sarah down to Steve carefully, and Steve took her, holding her gingerly to his chest and kissing the top of her head while she played with one of the buttons on his pajama top. He shut his eyes and nearly fell out of his chair a moment later, and Bucky took Sarah back, heaving her up onto his hip.

“Alright, all of you, go the fuck to sleep,” Nick instructed, ushering Kate out of the room. “I’ve got this.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't know (some people might, I don't know) this is [a real book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_the_Fuck_to_Sleep)! And [Samuel L. Jackson read it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ADF4iY7KCk)! I love this too much.
> 
> [This is what Jamie (the Boston Terrier/Cocker Spaniel mutt) looks like as a puppy.](http://www.allmutt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mutt-boston-terrier-cavilier-king-charles-spaniel-mix.jpg)
> 
> [Here she is when she's a full-grown dog.](http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images25/BostonSpanielTerrierCockerHybridDogsJunior2.jpg)
> 
> I'll leave everyone to their own headcanons on what Sarah looks like. And, obviously, Nick Fury watches Orange Is the New Black. Who doesn't? 
> 
> Here's the Marvel Wikia page for [Baron Helmut Zemo](http://marvel.wikia.com/Helmut_Zemo_\(Earth-616\)), the jackwagon they go off to fight. **EDIT:** Can't believe I predicted the CIVIL WAR VILLAIN, Y'ALL. Someone get me a goddamn crystal ball.
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).
> 
>  **EDIT:** Yes, this used to be part of the series [The Smithsonian](http://archiveofourown.org/series/94757). This (and the other pieces with their children) were so tonally different that I decided to separate them and put them in their own series. Ta-da! Enjoy.


End file.
